Welcome back to Mad Reviews! In light of Terminator Genisys coming out next Friday (which I'm sure is going to be just a doozy), I've decided to dedicate my next batch of reviews to the Terminator saga. I've already written a review for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, so I will be taking a look at the other 3 movies in this series, and conclude this chapter of Mad Reviews with a review on Terminator Genisys. In case you can't tell, I'm not really looking forward to the latest installment of the franchise... But now is not the time to be negative. I'm going to be travelling back to 1984, when James Cameron created one of the most brilliant films made: The Terminator. Here we go!
Alright, so in middle of directing the doomed-from-the-start Piranha II, James Cameron ended up having a nightmare about being hunted down by a big metal robot with red eyes. This nightmare planted the seed for this movie. Within 2 years, a script was written, the production was green-lit, and a then unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast in role of the villainous Terminator.
The premise: In 2029, the human resistance has all but won a lengthy bloody war against the machines, and the only way the machines can win this war is to fight it in the past. An infiltration unit is sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of the leader of the human resistance, John Connor. The human resistance sends back Kyle Reese (Michael Beihn) to protect Sarah. From here, we're taken on thrill ride as Reese and Connor avoid the Terminator at all costs, and save the future of mankind. Pretty simple, eh?
Little did we know that this low-budget, neo-noir sci-fi thriller would become a critical and commercial juggernaut and launch both its director and lead actor into the stratosphere! So what made this film one of the most beloved of all time? Well, let me give you a list of reasons:
1. The opening title sequence
I usually don't talk about title sequences since they just give us the credits and the title of the film. But the way this movie does it is so freaking cool! You see all the credits being typed out one by one while a bunch of large, metallic lettering scrolls in opposing directions in the background. I remember always being blown away from it as a kid, especially when I realized that those huge letters were spelling out "TERMINATOR". And of course, the theme playing along to it... Oh man... The theme! THE THEME!
Yes, the metallic heartbeat is bone-chilling. It adds the perfect icing on the cake to this sequence, and overall this sequence sets the tone beautifully for this film!
2. The atmosphere
This movie is really dark and eerie, even in the daytime scenes, things still look dark. As mentioned before, The Terminator has a very neo-noir feel to it. When you're making a movie that has an unstoppable killer robot in it, I think it's best to make it as bleak looking as possible. Cameron exploits this notion to endth degree here, and it creates a very raw, terrorizing atmosphere that compliments the film beautifully.
3. The characters
The three main characters of this film are iconic. Sarah Connor is the most badass female character not named Ellen Ripley (although her badassery will not reach its full potential until the sequel). She starts out in this film as a timid, down-on-her-luck waitress. She gets ice cream shoved in her dress, she gets her date cancelled, and then she gets targeted by a robot for assassination... For something she didn't even do yet... Poor Sarah. But by the end of this movie, we get a glimpse of just how hardcore she's going to become.
Since this film's release, Sarah Connor has become one of the most iconic female characters in movie history. The best part of this movie is seeing her transformation. By the end, you truly believe she's the mother of the leader of the human resistance.
Kyle Reese may not be as much of a household name as Sarah Connor or the Terminator, but he's still a terrific character. A sergeant in the human resistance, he is sent back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor from the Terminator. In his time, he was a hardened soldier, but in 1984, he's a fish out of water. He's assigned to protect Sarah from a massive killer robot with no proper weapons, no idea how this world works, all while suffering from PTSD. Despite all of his vulnerabilities, he's determined to protect Sarah at all costs, even if it means banging her while on the run.
Now we get to the grand daddy of them all: The Terminator. Is there anything about this robot that isn't totally badass? Let's see here: He operates on himself and rips his own eyeball out; he shoots up a nightclub; he takes 6 shotgun blasts to the chest like it's nothing; crashes into a police station and offs every cop he sees; and he busts into this poor old lady's home and puts 5 rounds in her face just because of her name!
Oh how I wish we had Terminators and time travel in real life...
If only
Seriously, The T-800 in this film one of the most intimidating, relentless, badass motherfuckers to ever be put on film. Chuck Norris checks his closet for a fucking Terminator at night!
You get it by now, right? Characters = Awesome
4. The acting
This film features career making performances out of its 3 main stars. Arnold Schwarzenegger was already a rising action star with the Conan movies under his belt, but The Terminator is when Arnold truly became Arnold. He was a household name from then on and his star has only gotten brighter since.
Linda Hamilton has become synonymous with the character of Sarah Connor... In fact, I don't even remember any other movie she's been in! But for the one role she did play in her lifetime, it was a great one. No other actress has been able to capture the essence of Sarah like she has, which says a lot because Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke are terrific... But they just couldn't nail down Sarah's character. Linda Hamilton will always be the definitive Sarah Connor, always.
As for Michael Biehn, well... He hasn't had much of a career outside of future Cameron movies, which is shame because he's a terrific talent, and this movie showcases that greatly. He finds a great balance between being strong yet vulnerable as Kyle Reese in this film, and, just like Hamilton, he shines brightly even if it's just for one role.
So yeah, the performances in this movie raised the bar for acting in sci-fi films!
5. Directing
James Cameron's legend was born with this movie. Piranha II may have technically been his first movie, but I consider The Terminator to be his true debut. Every element of Cameron's films are present here: A strong female lead; a badass, shit-your-pants terrifying villain; relentless action mixed with brutal intensity; rich subtext; and the color blue. He manages to combine action, sci-fi, horror and romantic elements in this film, and it all comes together beautifully!
I want to use this opportunity to point out a very clever thing Cameron did in this movie: In the scene where Sarah Connor walks in the Tech Noir nightclub, the song being played in the background shouts out the lyrics "All alone, I'm a moving target." It was a very clever insertion into this movie and it speaks volumes of Cameron's brilliance.
He has since become one of the most respected directors of all time, and my personal favourite.
All 5 of those things listed are combined to create one of the most original and awesome movies ever made. It's pretty much flawless, and that's saying something for a movie that features a guy who travels back in time to impregnate a woman and become the father of his own boss... Fucked up, eh?
In case you haven't noticed yet, this is one of my favourite movies of all time. It's a science fiction masterpiece of the likes that will never be seen again.
This film gets 100 Uzi 9mm's out of 100
There you go! Stay tuned as I will be reviewing Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the next few days. So what I'm saying is...
See ya!
- Mad Mike of Metal
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